Don't Be a Loser I'm not sure how obvious our "Also See" section is under the main page feature, but in case you missed it, please check out our Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven Contest. Your chances of winning are fairly high, as for some reason we never get much participation in our contests. It's like you guys are afraid we're going to mail bomb you or something. All you have to do is write in either telling us who your favorite ninja is and why, or whip up some fan fiction based on your favorite ninja. Bam! That's it, and you could be a winner.
We're going to be holding these contests with some sort of regularity from now on. Upcoming prizes will include anything from t-shirts to anime to video games. Basically, if we have something cool lying around GWX-HQ, we're going to be putting it up for grabs.
...And They're Green I feel like kind of a goof saying this, but while I'm sure Viewtiful Joe, Mario Kart, Soul Calibur II, Metal Gear, and all the others will be phenomenal and will surely get a lot of pleasure out of me, I have to say that I'm most excited to get my hands on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game from Konami for the PS2 at E3. Does that make me less than cool?
The old arcade games still rank up there among my favorites of all time, and the new game looks to continue a lot of the gameplay aspects that made the originals so much fun. Hell, they even have some of the original team members contributing to the new project.
The new cartoon on Saturday mornings is great as well. Well, even though they got rid of the old theme song. I mean, who can forget it? They're the world's most fearsome fighting team. They're heroes in a half-shell - and they're green!
I Might Be Wrong Word on the street was that Shenmue III would make a brief appearance at E3. Word changed. Now it's not even clear if the bigwigs at Sega have given the team the greenlight to work on it. The word around GWX is that John's pissed.
Word.
I'm going to admit to you that I have not yet finished the Wind Waker. However, I have finally reached Ganon's tower and I'm ready for action. You see, life isn't as simple as it was in high school, or even college for that matter. I used to be able to devote hours upon hours to gaming. I could skip classes, cancel appointments, shun my friends and girlfriends. I remember finishing Ocarina of Time during my senior year in college over the course of a couple days. And that was after only skipping a few classes. Alas, with age not only comes lumpiness and shortness of breath, but also obligations and responsibilities.
It also must be noted that there is just so much to see and do in Wind Waker that it's easy to lose track of the main quest in order to go off looking for some trinket or bauble that seems as though it may be cool. Nintendo really packed in the side quests and diversions in this one, my friends. But you already know this. You've most likely completed the damn game.
I hate you.
Ok, I take that back.
Bahamut wrote in. He tends to get a bit verbose, so let's share the abridged version:
You know, I just popped up on here to check the place out and at the bottom of the homepage, I saw you write "And I'm a walrus Goo Goo Ga Joob" I busted. I do not know why that was funny just read saw you wrote it and laughed. Thanks man cause I was feeling a little down and........... wait I have to ask you something of extreme importance. One of the people I talked to found Bonk 3! Yes they found it for me and bought it...
Bam! That's all I need to hear. My dear readers, the man known as FinalBahamut is truly a lord among the living. For his efforts, he shall henceforth be known as Sir Bahamut, Lord Over All He Surveys.
Ok, regular readers of this column know how little I think of Limp Bizkit and their lead idiot, Fred Durst. Someone - I forget whom...perhaps Metallica - referred to them as the Motley Crue of our times, or something like that. I think even that might be overestimating the talent of Durst and Company. Either way, calling their new album Panty Sniffer isn't helping matters any. Here's a quote from lead dipshit himself:
'Sometimes you just have to go with the flow of creativity and we're doing just f***ing that,' Durst wrote. 'The new band is exploding at the seems . You're not gonna comprehend where we took this one.' Speaking of Smith, he enthused, 'He's giving me riffs I've always wanted to have. If you're scared of revolution then you'd better run for shelter.'
Me scared. Me can't wait to see what prepubescent drivel they've got cookin'. Hopefully it'll be just as "revolutionary" as this little snippet:
Give me somethin' to break. How 'bout your f**kin' face!
Cutter and Skywise I've been meaning to talk about this since - well - the first day this column started, oh so many months ago. As I've mentioned a million times, I'm not a big comic book guy. Of course, I usually follow that statement by going into some sort of tirade about the latest and greatest comic book I've read. Perhaps it's my fear of being lumped in with those people. You know the ones. Although, if liking comic books puts me in the same company as these guys, I guess I'll be all right.
Anyway...over the years, it's always amazed me when I run into someone who hasn't heard of Elfquest. I really got into it in junior high (all those years ago), and every few years I find myself going back to it like revisiting an old friend.
Holy hell that last bit sounded lame.
Regardless of my frosted glass memories, I can't recommend the series enough, especially if you're a fan of fantasy fiction. Ok, even if you're not a fan of fantasy fiction, at least give the online sample a read.
The series has been going since the late 70s and the authors have just signed a publishing deal with DC Comics, which should assure that you'll be hearing plenty about Elfquest in the near future. It really is a fantastic read and you can find the books at nearly any major bookstore.
If you do happen to pick one up, or if you are already a fan, drop me a line and let me know what you think.
Here's a heads up: tomorrow GWX will be start the first of many regular contests over the next few months. Up for grabs is a copy of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven for the PS2. What do you have to do to win? Well, you'll just have to tune in and find out. Here's a hint: get your ninja skills ready and your imagination primed.
The Golden Age I know, I know. I didn't update yesterday. I beg your forgiveness, though I doubt you set your watch by my updates.
It really hit me last night that E3 is less than a week away. Hilden and I were speaking on the phone (because we're both to lazy to walk across the yard, and besides, who would want to walk across the yard just to talk to him?), and we were both just stupified that in six short days we will be in LA, drinking from the fountain of all that is gaming greatness.
Regarding the feature on the DISCover technology, message boards have been buzzing about it and I think it's up to me to clear up a few misconceptions.
A) Yes it's real. At least it's real in the way that the company will be at E3 and will be showing their technology. Whether or not it will ever hit store shelves remains to be seen.
B) As far as I know, the picture shown is just a mockup and not representative of the final product. Again, this is just to the best of my knowledge. Yes, that controller looks ridiculous and generic and will in no way be able to substitute the complexities of the mouse and keyboard arrangement. When talking to Avi, he indicated that the units will ship with some sort of remote controlled keyboard-like device. I really didn't get in-depth with him about it, but we'll see at E3, I suppose.
C) Gaming fans on the internet can be some cynical bastards! Jeez! Scouring the message boards last night I saw the words "failure", "stupid", "retarded", "doomed", and others peppered throughout each conversation. So what if it fails at retail? (Which is more than likely). Isn't it just cool that someone is trying to release something new to entertain you? If you try it and don't like it, move on. The same goes with the Phantom, N-Gage, and Helix. I just like having new ideas thrown into the mix in order to keep things interesting.
So that's that.
Back to E3, we've got some interesting plans which will hopefully illustrate how seriously we're taking our coverage. GWX as you know it will disappear for four days next week and in its place will be your one stop E3 news source. You'll be able to get all of your E3 news, photos, and articles on one page. Staff members will also be keeping journals detailing their impressions and thoughts on each game. I'll have more information later in the week as we begin testing our E3 news system. I hope you will enjoy it.
Care to ramble about E3 and do a bit of speculating? That sounds appropriate to me. Send in whatever you want to talk about. What surprises are you aniticipating? Will that new GBA Metroid really make an appearance?
It's All a Mystery It's been an interesting day. If you haven't already read the feature on the DISCover, please take a moment to check it out, mull it over, and send in your impressions.
As I've stated many times, I love hearing about new consoles being added to the market. We've had four newcomers announce products in the past few months and it just makes me giddy; even though I doubt any of them will be successful. My biggest problem with the DISCover is that it's such an ambitious concept - one that I can barely wrap my brain around - and I could have sat on the phone with their company president all day and still not run out of questions. Honestly, until I see the unit in action and get my chance to test it out for myself, I don't think it has a chance in hell to make it out of the gate. Then again, I'm about as tech-savvy as a dried up turd, so I could be wrong. Maybe they have thought of all the answers. Somehow I doubt it.
I never got into PC gaming because of the commitment it seems to require. I'm a lazy bastard and really not a fan of the PC. If I'm working on a project and the thing freezes up, that's it. I'm through. So a PC gaming console that virtually eliminates this sort of B.S. is an attractive idea for me. However, so is the idea of a remote controlled ass-wiping and blow-job-giving machine, but I just don't think that's in the cards.
Moving along, Heather has a request for E3:
I'd like to see alot of Silicon Knights coverage at E3. Not really the MGS game, but maybe Too Human if it's there and some new projects. Thanks!
~Heather
I've got a feeling that they're really going to be pushing the Metal Gear, but we'll do what we can for you Heather.
Bahamut also checked in with an extremely kind letter that nearly brought a tear to my eye. I won't publish it here, but suffice it to say that knowing that our efforts at GWX are so appreciated and recognized by even one reader makes the whole ordeal worth every moment.
He did, however, ask what my previous job was here at GWX before this whole CWJ nonsense began. Well sir, I actually started out at GWX as a Game Boy Advance review editor. Looking back, I wrote some terrible reviews, but somehow managed to sucker Sonny into making me Managing Editor. He's young and stupid, you know. Anyway, I started the Week in Review feature, which was then passed onto Joe, Craig, and now Paul - who, incidentally, is handling it wonderfully. And that brings us up to speed.
No one at GWX really has a role that is set in stone. Sure, Joe, Brian, and Adam run their respective departments and are responsible for the content within, but everybody helps out everybody else. Except for Greg. He's a nazi.
Enough with the history of our little chunk of internet bliss. Thanks again for the extremely kind words. It's greatly appreciated.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride The dirtiest name for a Disney movie ever.
I read some results from an interesting study today that claims violent music contributes to aggressive thoughts and behavior. The study was conducted on 500 college students and found that "violent songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat".
It's tough for me to say how I feel about the study, so give the link a click, read it over, and let me know how what you think.
I had a roommate about a year or so ago who was a huge fan of "death metal" and whatnot. Every time I came home he had that stuff at maximum volume. The walls would shake, my dog would freak out, but he would just lie there on his bed in silence, reading Stephen King novels. When he was through, he would simply shut off the stereo and make himself some dinner. To me, that was odd behavior.
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of that style of music. I got into it a bit when I was in high school, but it seems pretty silly to me now. All these repressed, angry white dudes in spooky makeup and leather clothing, screaming about how mommy didn't love them enough when they were kids. Yeah, you've got a lot to be angry about Trevor. Sitting there counting the money all those suburban punks are doling out hand over fist.
I'm getting off track. Wait, there isn't a track to begin with.
I finally checked out Anger Management on Friday. If you haven't seen it, I'm not sure if I want to tell you how I felt about it. It was a typical Adam Sandler movie, and perhaps that's why I came away so disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I love Adam Sandler and most of his movies (except that idiotic Little Nicky), but I guess Jack Nicholson's participation in the film made me come to expect more from it. Sure, it had its share of laughs and all, but overall there was nothing that separated it from Mr. Deeds or Big Daddy. And don't get me started and the hideous ending...
Friday night was also spent at Brit's Pub, a local establishment that makes me want to visit GWX European Correspondent Craig Harwood. It got me to wondering if other countries have restaurants with American themes to them. I'm sure they do, but in all my trips abroad I have yet to see any. Ah well. The fish n' chips were fabulous.
Well, the weekend is over again and tomorrow marks the beginning of another work week. What can you look forward to this week on GWX? Well, we've got a decent lineup of features for you, including an Editor's Roundtable which discusses the relevance of E3, an update to our mailbag feature X-Communication, another insightful editorial from our man Brendon Hivner, and a Classic Game of the Week feature that should interest those looking forward to Nintendo's upcoming GBA games.
